Scituate is located just beyond the suburban sprawl of Johnston to the west of Providence. The town was mainly an agricultural settlement, but as more settlers came, water power was developed along its many streams.
At Hope, a small village in the southern end of the town, an iron furnace was established in which ore was melted, shipped in from a bog in nearby Cranston. In later years cotton mills were established and several small villages were incorporated.
The City of Providence acquired title to a large area in the northern part of the town, and there, through construction of a large dam, several thousand acres were flooded, establishing the Scituate Reservoir, Providence's main source of water supply.
Today Scituate is best known for its many apple orchards, old farms and long stretches of stone walls dividing the beautiful woodlands.
Scituate is located in Providence County and is part of the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area.
